Thong Chai Medical Institution (Old Building), Singapore新加坡同济医院旧址
- Type
- Overseas Daoist Temples
- Location
- Singapore · Singapore · Kreta Ayer (Chinatown) · 50 Eu Tong Sen Street (former site)
- Coordinates
- 1.2874, 103.8437 Map ↗
- First built
- 1867 · The Thong Chai Medical Society was founded in 1867; its surviving building on Yongxi Street was completed in 1892
- Heritage status
- Singapore National Monument (6 November 1973)
Overview
The Thong Chai Medical Institution was founded in 1867 by seven Chinese merchants, the earliest Chinese charitable institution of traditional medicine in Singapore, and completed its association-hall-style building on Yongxi Street (today Yusof Ishak Street) in 1892. The hall enshrines Shennong Dadi (King of Medicine), and patients commonly burn incense and offer prayers before and after consultations and the dispensing of medicine, embodying the tradition of intertwined Chinese medicine and worship of the gods. The building has also long served as a venue for deliberation, mediation, and fundraising for relief within the Chinese community. It should be clearly stated: the Thong Chai Medical Institution is in nature a charitable medical and community organization, its enshrinement of Shennong being merely a subsidiary feature, by no means a Daoist temple; it is included here to illustrate the “charity hall–temple–medical care” trinity characteristic of Nanyang Chinese society. The building is in a mixed Cantonese-Hokkien southern style, was designated a Singapore National Monument on 6 November 1973, and while the old building is now put to other uses, the institution's medical operations continue at a new site.
Highlights
- Founded in 1867, the earliest Chinese charitable institution of traditional medicine in Singapore
- Association-hall-style building completed in 1892, designated a National Monument in 1973
- Enshrines Shennong Dadi, intertwining medicine and worship of the gods
- In nature a charitable medical and community organization, not a Daoist temple